Since returning from Turkey I have been busy catching up with things and despite the mostly warm, sunny and calm weather I haven't been out much. I eventually headed out to Wembury for a walk on Wednesday 7th October and as I headed down the hill towards Exeter Street to catch the bus I saw Little Birdy wandering around. He/she did come over to me for a better look before carrying on up the hill and I was very pleased to see that one of our Herring Gull fledglings from this year has survived and has mastered some proper road sense unlike last years fledglings.
The weather had turned and it was cool and breezy and also low tide so it was a fairly quiet walk at Wembury but it was good to be back out birding. There were still good numbers of Clouded Yellow flitting about in the more sheltered spots and I also saw a Small Copper, a Wall Brown and 2 Speckked Wood and there were also a few vocal Chiffchaffs calling away as they flitted about in the leaves of the trees. The best sighting though was of Swallows with 5 over The Point heading west before changing their minds and heading back east and probably my last of the year.
I also had a quick walk around Saltram the next day, again it was low tide and fairly quiet but I was pleased to finally catch up with my first Little Grebe of the autumn with 3 seen on the river near the gas pipe. Blaxton Meadow was totally dry as usual and now covered with some kind of plant with small pinky red flowers and the female Wood Duck was back on the duck pond where at least 2 Brown Rats were seen running around the pond edges. There were also at least 6 Mistle Thrush feeding on the Yew berries in the nearby trees and my highest count of them at Saltram.
We headed off to Roscoff in France on the Pont Aven ferry on Friday 9th October, we caught the lunchtime ferry for a change so I could do some wildlife watching from the decks but with strong winds, rain and rough seas I didn't see very much with 2 Manx Shearwater, Gannets, a Razorbill, Herring Gulls and a Shag seen out at sea along with a single Grey seal in Plymouth Sound.
The weather the next day was warm, calm and occassionally sunny and after having had a good nights sleep in the hotel we had an enjoyable day driving around the supermarkets stocking up on wine and without the horrible tired feeling we usually have after a night crossing on the ferry.
It was back to Plymouth on the morning ferry on Sunday 11th October, it was overcast with drizzle at times but it was warm without too much wind and the sea state was relatively flat. The first hour out of Roscoff was very productive as usual with the highlight being sightings of a few Balearic Shearwaters in amongst the Manx Shearwaters as they flew west in front of the boat. Also seen were Mediterranean Gulls, Herring Gulls, Razorbills and Guillemots but as France disappeared on the horizon the sightings dried up and I headed down to the cafe at the front of the ferry for a cup of tea. From there I eventually saw at least 3 Common Dolphins leaping out of the water as they came in to bow ride at the front of the boat and also seen were Gannets, 2 juvenile Kittiwakes heading east and a Petrel species flying low over the water heading west.
As Devon came in to view I headed back up on deck where things seemed very quiet but eventually birds began to appear and I had good views of Gannets, Kittiwakes, 4 Manx Shearwaters, Razorbills and Guillemots. A feeding frenzy of diving Gannets gave away the position of feeding Blue Fin Tuna and possibly Common Dolphins too and a fishing trawler with its nets out had attracted in a large flock of Gulls and Gannets with at least 2 Sooty Shearwaters seen amongst the swirling throng. The best sighting though was of a distant flock of around 20 feeding Petrels, presumably Storm Petrels, as they flittered over the water surface.
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